Datadog On
Datadog On is a content platform where Datadog engineers share deep technical insights, real-world use cases, and behind-the-scenes conversations about building and operating the Datadog platform. It is intended to support engineers, SREs, and developers who want to learn directly from the people building the tools they use.
My task was to redesign this experience from a restrictive, confusing content repository into a clear, discoverable, and brand-aligned destination built for technical audiences.
This project sat at the intersection of content, product, and brand, requiring a deep understanding of technical audiences, navigation systems, and behavioral friction.
Role
Product Designer
Contribution
Product strategy, Experience design, Content platform design, Information architecture, Visual design, Brand alignment, Interaction design
Datadog On design walkthrough
Redesigned Datadog On home page design for desktop and mobile
The Challenge
High-value content hidden behind structural friction
The original site severely limited content-first discoverability and inadvertently created friction for interested developers, SREs, and engineers. Key issues included:
A restrictive template that made content look gated or paid.
Navigation that felt cluttered and confusing, including hidden elements.
Default components (comments/upvotes) that didn’t align with user needs.
Previous episodes page with friction point annotations
The Strategy
Reframing as a scalable content platform
To inform a solution that scales with content velocity and a discerning audience, I took the following steps:
Conducted flow analysis to understand where users dropped off before consuming episodes.
Audited competing developer-focused platforms to identify patterns of discoverability.
Mapped content taxonomy to improve clarity between episodes, speakers, and topics.
These insights guided a redesign that reduced cognitive load, improved navigation clarity, and aligned content structure with user goals.
Previous user flow: tap/click to expand
The Solution
Proposed user flow: tap/click to expand
Proposed site map: tap/click to expand
A content structure that made finding episodes more effortful than necessary.
Excessive registration friction before accessing free content.
These structural and UX problems weakened content exposure, reduced visitor confidence, and undermined user trust that this was a free, valuable technical resource.
Previous versions of platform pages: home, episodes, speakers
Previous site map: tap/click to expand
To support this strategy, here’s what I did:
Audited the existing platform and mapped friction points across key user flows
Analyzed other technical content hubs and developer platforms to identify strong discoverability patterns
Rebuilt the information architecture around how engineers actually explore content (by topic, by speaker, by relevance, by recency)
Defined a clearer taxonomy and filtering logic to future-proof content growth
This work informed both the structural layout and the interaction model.
Turning a restrictive template into a content destination
The final experience centered on clarity, discoverability, and cohesion.
Key outcomes included:
Simplified navigation: Reduced clutter and stabilized global navigation across breakpoints
Ungated experience: Removed unnecessary registration barriers for past content
Clearer hierarchy: Strong emphasis on newest episodes and clearer differentiation between speakers, topics, and formats
Approved wireframes: home, episode page, individual speaker page, speakers page
Enabling long-term content growth
Improved filtering: Faster paths to relevant content through category-driven exploration
Brand-aligned UI: A refreshed interface that felt cohesive with Datadog’s broader ecosystem
The platform shifted from a static repository into a true content hub.
The Impact
The redesigned Datadog On platform launched mid-2022, establishing a cohesive video hub, clearer content taxonomy, and a scalable foundation for ongoing content investment.
By November 2022, the Datadog YouTube channel associated with this content had reached approximately 11.9K subscribers. Since launch, the channel has grown to over 29K subscribers (~145% growth) alongside an expanded content cadence and improved discoverability.
(Left to right): Updated desktop and mobile designs for speakers page, individual speaker page, and episode page